Back to School with the Greatest Teacher of All

It’s Back to School time for all of us, no matter how young or old we are.  Everyone is invited to learn in the classroom of the greatest teacher the world has ever known: Jesus.  His lesson plan is ready.  We just need to show up.

Image provided by Wix.

As students enter a new school year, every parent hopes their children will have great teachers.

Many of us have been blessed to have had a wonderful teacher, someone who made a lasting difference in our lives.  I especially remember Mr. Beagle and Mrs. Whiteman.  But we all have access to the greatest teacher of all: Jesus, who was God come to earth to teach us how to be like God.

Beginning in the Old Testament, God is a teacher

In the book of Exodus, when God is first forming his people, he says to Moses:

“I will teach you what you shall do.” (Ex. 4:15)

In one of his Psalms, David captures some of the important ways that God acts as a teacher in his life.  This is what he pictures God saying to him:

“I will instruct you and direct you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye on you.” (Ps. 32:8)

Both Isaiah and Micah describe a vision of God’s holy mountain as a place of learning, as God’s quintessential classroom:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, . . . that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” (Is. 2:3; see also Mi. 4:2)

When I was in 7^th grade, I refused for months to use the outlining method my teacher taught the class for taking notes.  Finally, I tried it – and then jotted a note to the teacher on my homework, saying, you were right: it is easier to take notes this way.

Similarly, God’s people often strayed, skipped school, or refused to follow his teaching.  In Jeremiah, God laments:

“[T]hough I taught them, rising early and teaching, they would not listen or accept correction.” (Jer. 32:33)

In these passages, we see God’s commitment to his imperfect people.  He provides instruction, direction, and guidance.  And he persists even when his students do not respond.

But that’s only the beginning of the story of God’s role in our lives as a teacher.

God promises he will provide a visible teacher and place his spirit in us

There is a remarkable passage in Isaiah in which God goes a step further.

The people are facing powerful enemies.  They think that God does not care or is unable to protect them, and they turn elsewhere for help and hope.  Isaiah says that they will suffer adversity and oppression but:

“He shall be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears you, He shall respond to you . . . and your Teacher shall no longer be concealed from you, and your eyes shall see your Teacher.” (Is. 30:19-20, Jewish translation from Chabad)

(The Hebrew text has the plural noun “teachers” but has the verb form that indicates that there is only one teacher.  Most Christian Bibles translate it as “Teacher” – capitalized because it is seen as a reference to God and, prophetically, to Jesus.  This Jewish translation shows that even Jews, who don’t believe in Jesus, see it as a reference to God.)

What did Isaiah think this Teacher would do?  He tells us in the next verse:

“And your ears shall hear a word from behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (Is 30:21)

God will help us to stay on track and not wander off in directions that take us away from God.

Ezekiel pictures this guiding voice as coming not just from behind us but from within us:

“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.” (Ez. 36:26-27, NABRE)

Jeremiah also envisions the day when God will teach us from within our hearts:

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.” (Jer. 31:33-34)

The New Testament book of Hebrews (8:10-11) quotes this passage and says it is part of the new covenant we experience through Jesus.  Jesus places his spirit and his word in our hearts.

Jesus is the promised teacher

When Jesus arrived on earth, it was Back to School time.  He came to provide that very personal guidance the Old Testament spoke of.  After Jesus gathered students (“disciples”), he went up on the mountain and sat down, and his disciples came to him.  And Matthew tells us:

“He began to teach them, saying....” (Matt. 5:2, introducing the Sermon on the Mount)

Luke tells us that he wrote his Gospel to present Jesus’s teaching:

“In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all the things that Jesus began to do and to teach.” (Acts 1:1).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus accepts the title of teacher:

“You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly you say it, for so I am.” (John 13:13)

The Gospels are the lesson books from the greatest teacher the world has ever known.

But Jesus knew that he would only be on earth bodily for a little while.  He had a solution that would make himself present with us forever.

Jesus sends his Spirit to live within us

Before he was killed and rose from the dead, Jesus revealed to his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit (which Paul refers to as the Spirit of Jesus in Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19) to live in us and teach us:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him....  These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:23, 25-26, ESV) 

Jesus tells us several important things here.

First, God – the one God who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit – will make a home in us.  God will take up residence in us and live in each of us.

Second, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus will send, will teach us all things and remind us of what Jesus has taught us.  God will be our teacher.

Jesus underscores these points in John 15:26 (the Holy Spirit “will testify [or bear witness] about me”) and John 16:13:

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)

So the Holy Spirit continues to guide us in the truth that Jesus taught when he was on earth.

To summarize: The Old Testament shows that God is our teacher.  Because he walked the earth and is still alive today, Jesus is our teacher, and his teachings are preserved in the New Testament.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so the Holy Spirit is the teacher of all who follow Jesus.  But they are all one God.  When one is present, all are present (see John 10:30; 14:9; 14:18-20).  Therefore, we can say with confidence that God dwells in us and is always ready to teach and guide us.

It’s always Back to School time

Now that we know what kind of teacher God is, we might ask ourselves: What kind of student am I?  Am I spending time in the classroom of the master teacher?

Students learn best by doing, not by being lectured to.  No teacher gives us greater freedom to learn by doing than God.  He gives a radical level of freedom, a risky amount of freedom, while constantly whispering quietly to us and tugging in our heart to encourage us to stay in touch with him, to follow his example, and to live according to what he has taught us.

We will miss his instruction and guidance if we don’t spend time in his classroom and keep our ears and heart open to his teaching.

• Prayer is our conversation with the master teacher.  It is like a personal tutoring session the teacher is always ready to have with us.

• The places we spend time with God, including the places where we pray alone or with other “students” at church, are the classroom.

• The Bible is our primary textbook, filled with wisdom from God, the ways Jesus modeled for us how to live for God, and examples of how to follow him faithfully.  (And many wise people, from the church fathers on to today, have written other books and materials to help us explore the endless depths of the Bible.)

But God’s “school” is not just a training ground; it is a “work/study” program where, at all times, we are both learning and putting our learning into practice.

• Every time we do something, we are both in the classroom and in the real world, learning how to follow God’s instruction and putting into action what we have been taught, while he remains with us and dwells in our hearts.

For these reasons, it is always Back to School time.  Every day, we are invited to another opportunity to learn from the master teacher and put his teaching into practice.

Will we say yes, take time for prayer, read the Bible, go to church, and put the teachings into action?  Or will we skip school, play hooky, and miss the greatest teacher the world ever had?